8 ms·

The problem with the idea of working all the time becomes far more real once you have kids. You are doing real damage to your kids if you are not there for the

The problem with the idea of working all the time becomes far more real once you have kids. You are doing real damage to your kids if you are not there for them as much as you are for your work. I am not saying this from a position of moral superiority, I have been guilty of this myself during a time when, for many years, if I was awake I was working. Ultimately a business failure forcefully knocked me out of that mode of operation. Being around a 3 and a 4 year old all day was, well, very weird. I eventually adjusted. Over time I came to understand just how valuable it is to have quality interactions with you kids. Life can't just be about work once you have kids. It doesn't matter if you enjoy the heck out of your work, you had kids and that is a responsibility you cannot outsource. After that experience my approach to work was far different. My businesses are very important to me but my family is always first.

tajen 11y ago
As a kid who grew up with an overworked dad, thank you. Well, thanks dad too for bringing enough money at home. But not having played ball at all before 6 made me a pretty isolated child, at an age where people socialize through sports. Not having much affective presence has been bad for my self-confidence, which is still a problem today. Not having enough discussion about dating girls made me isolated as a teenager and young adult. Sure that gave me plenty of time to succeed at school and I'm now sitting on a pile of money, which I can use to buy courses and any experience that I feel lacking. But there are some things that are just less painful to learn when we go through them with parents. I'm not a father and it is up to fathers to judge whether financial safety is more or less important than affection. But there are real, palatable, eventually financial, painful consequences from not spending time with your children, so much that spending time with children is often a pretty good thing to do.

tajen 11y ago

As a kid who grew up with an overworked dad, thank you. Well, thanks dad too for bringing enough money at home. But not having played ball at all before 6 made me a pretty isolated child, at an age where people socialize through sports. Not having much affective presence has been bad for my self-confidence, which is still a problem today. Not having enough discussion about dating girls made me isolated as a teenager and young adult. Sure that gave me plenty of time to succeed at school and I'm now sitting on a pile of money, which I can use to buy courses and any experience that I feel lacking. But there are some things that are just less painful to learn when we go through them with parents. I'm not a father and it is up to fathers to judge whether financial safety is more or less important than affection. But there are real, palatable, eventually financial, painful consequences from not spending time with your children, so much that spending time with children is often a pretty good thing to do.